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Class _X^^i5" 
Book.SXL_ 



CHATJICEY SHAFFER'S REASOIS 

For Voting for JOHN C. FREMONT. ^ ("f- 



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Saratoga Springs, Aug. 14, ISbk 
U. Dunn, Esq. — My Dear Sir : I have just received, by way 
of New-York City, your note of the 9th inst., inclosing' the fol- 
lowing', extract from The Ithica Citizen, to wit : 

" Coming BACK.^Chauncey Shaffer, who was one of the most prominent 
bolters from the Philadelphia American Convention, and who has been 
stumping the river counties in this State at the Fremont meetings, has re- 
turned to the hearty support of Fillmore and Donelson. Mr. Shaffer is an 
eloquent speaker, and was District Attorney in New- York City. He belongs 
to the Methodist Church, and his recent conviction that Mr. Fremont is a 
Eoman Catholic, is the reason why he withdraws his support from the Re- 
publicans. He has candidly examined all the evidence, for and against 
which has appeared, and has looked closely into the statements of Fulmer 
and the opposition against them, and declares that the evidence in favor of 
his being a Papist is conclusive, for which reason he cannot support him." 

You assure me that the above is producing an impression in 
your region, and desire me to inform you whether it is true or 
not. I answer that is a sheer fabrication — a "Eoorback." 
That no further mischief may occur from the circulation of that 
article, I will set the matter of my preference of candidates 
right at once. 

In the first place, I was not a prominent or other " bolter 
from the Philadelphia American Convention." I was not a del- 
egate to that Convention. There were reasons why I should 
not be a delegate. I had too much to do with undoing the work 
of a previous Council in Philadelphia assembled ; too much to 
do against the slave propagandists at Binghamton last August, 
and Vv^as too little inclined to sec Americanism sold out, to be 
considered a safe man to go to Philadelphia. 

I staid at home against my will, I admit. Moreover, that 
Convention was not an American Convention. 

As far as the l^orth was concerned, it was a Silver Gray Wliig 
Convention ; as far as the SoiUh was concerned, it ivas a Convention 
for the Propagation of Human Slavery, and theresvJt was t/ic nomina- 
iton of two men, one of whom glories in being the owner of a hundred 
slaves ; and the other (Mr. Filhnore) hi being a most subservient in- 
strument of the Slave Power, as is manifestly proved by his course 
while acting as President of the United States; also by his .spceclies 
made during his Southern tour in pursiut of a re-nominaiion, as well 
as by his nullification speeches at Albany and elsewhere, on his return 
from his visit to the Pope. 

Hence the leading Silver Gray newspapers of the North (in- 
cluding The New York Express) claim Mr, Fillmore as the regu- 
lar Yf hig nominee for the Presidency, while the South claim 



him as the champion of Southern rights, (meaning the extension 
of human Slavery by the action of the General Government, ) 
while Mr. Fillmore, to justify the claims of the South, in effect 
says, " Elect me, or the South, ,that loyes-iae-eo well, shall i;iot 
remain in the^Union." 

As an American, I am not bound by the action of that Con- 
vention ; rather, let me say, I cannot submit to be bound by its 
action, any more than can my brethren of Massachusetts, of 
Connecticut, and of every New England State. The American 
party of Massachusetts, in solemn council assembled, has de- 
clared for Mr. Fremont, and nominated electors favorable to his 
election , and so has the State of Connecticut, and so will all 
New England do, (for New England has a history,) and so will 
the American party of this State act ; excepting always a por- 
tion of the Silver Gray portion of that party. The latter por- 
tion will stand by Mr. Fillmore, notwithstanding he ''has adopt- 
ed the leading principles of that platform^'' the seventh section of which 
commits the American po.rty to Slavery extension under the guise of 
squatter sovereignty; because this "portion of a portion" 
came into the order with the design of retrieving the fallen 
fortunes of Mr. Fillmore, as is proved by the attempted ostra- 
cism of the liberal-minded men of the order, and by the threats 
preceding and accompanying the Philadelphia Convention, that 
in the event of George Law's receiving the nomination for the 
Presidency, they, with the Whig party proper, would nominate 
an out-and-out American Whig, (meaning Mr. Fillniore, I pre- 
sume,) and also by letters now in existence, and which, I hope, 
will yet be published. 

I have not " returned to the hearty support of Fillmore and 
Donelson," nor will I do any act or thing tending to sanction 
the outrages of Pro-Slavery, Nullification Border Euilians, who 
in addition to their outrages in Missouri and Kansas, of them- 
selves sufScient to turn the cheek of darkness pale, have, from 
1852 until now, wrested the high powers of the nation from 
their legitimate purpose, to the strengthening of the Slave 
Oligarchy. 

There are other objections to my supporting Mr. Fillmore, 
founded upon the fact stated by the Citizen, that I belong to the 
Methodist Church. 

■ The church owes Slavery no particular good-will, for Slavery 
has rent that church in twain ; has imprisoned women for teach- 
ing the slave to read the Bible, and has sought in every way to 
destroy that church, as being the opponent of Slavery most to 
be feared. Let facts speak. Last winter, a minister of the 
Ixlethodist Church, in Missouri, was arrested while in the pulpit 
by a gang of men, (who, if they live, will probably vote tor 
Mr. Fillmore), who wantonly and falsely charged him with 
horse-stealing ; and, without allowing him time to put on 
his overcoat, mounted him on a horse, drove him some seven 
teen miles (the weather being intensely cold), threw him into a 
cheerless room, without fire, there left him to die, and there he died ! 



3 

My informant is a Bishop of the Methodist Church, and spoke 
of his own knowledge- 

Another instance. The Eev. Mr. Wiley, and about tuivty 
other ministers of the Methodist Church have been assaulted 
in their churches and driven from place to place, like beasts of 
prey, their lives being every day in imminent peril. 

Another instance. In Kansas, a Methodist minister was 
whipped, tarred and feathered, tied to a log and set afloat on 
the Missouri Eiver. 

Another instance. Very recently a Methodist minister in 
•Missouri, while preaching, was dragged from his pulpit and 
tarred and feathered , while, an old Methodist layman, for the 
«i-ime of expostulation against such conduct was shot ; and it 
is a notorious fact, and one which will not admit of controversy, 
that a minister of my church cannot preach the Gospel in the 
State of Missouri, or the Territory of Kansas, but at the peril of 
his life ! and yet I find no reproof of these outrages either in the 
Philadelphia platform or in any of the speeches of Mr. Fillmore. 

As to my having examined " all the evidence" in relation to 
lilr. Fremont's religious creed, I have to say, that I have exam- 
ined all the evidence, including Alderman Fulmer's statement, 
and have exhausted the means of information within my reach, 
and have arrived at the following conclusions : 

1st. That Mr. Fremont's father was a French Huguenot, and 
his mother an American Protestant lady. 

2d. That Col. Fremont was born a Protestant, baptized a Pro- 
testant, married a Protestant lady, had his children baptized by 
a Protestant clergyman, educates them in the Protestant faith, 
while he is a Protestant in practice in all the relations of life. 

I admit that he was married by a Catholic clergyman, under cir- 
cumstances peculiar to himself, and with which the public is al- 
ready acquainted. 

3d. I conclude that Alderman Fulmer's statement is altoge- 
ther untrue. Col. Fremont was not in Washington at the time 
Fulmer says he conversed with him, nor within several months 
of that time. He was on the Pacific Ocean, or the Isthmus 
of Darien, or on the steamer George Law, from Aspinwall to 
New-York City, at the time fixed by Fulmer. 

I should add, that upon Col. Fremont's arrival in New-York 
City, he sailed to Europe without visiting Washington at all, 
and that he remained in Europe more than a year. 

I should further add, that the conviction in my mind, that 
Alderman Fulmer has borne false witness against his neighbor, 
is strengthened by the contradictory statements that I am cre- 
dibly informed he has made concerning this pretended conversa- 
tion, and by the further fact that among his immediate neigh- 
bors his statement is not believed. 

But if I shmild refuse to vote for Mr. Fremonl because oj tiis being a 
RomanCathoUc, I could not vote for Mr. Fillmore, and for thercason thai 
the Convention which nominated Mr. Fillmore was controlled by Roman 
Catholics as well as by Slavery Propagandists. This is the proof .• 

Two sets of delegates appeared from the State of Louisiana 



— one Protestant and the other Koman Catholic — both deman< 
ing admission. The Roman Catholic delegation was receivec 
and the Protestant delegation was rejected. 

The reason, I understand, assigned for this singular admissio 
and rejection was, that the Roman Catholic delegation did not a( 
knowledge the temporal supremacy of the Pope ; but did the Pre 
testant delegation acknowledge the temporal supremacy of th 
Pope ? 

There are other objections to my supporting Mr. Fillmore 
and as an American, and a man who, at the commencement o 
his political life, resolutely set his face against the further ag 
gressions of the Slave Power, I cannot be induced by any spe- 
cial pleading, or by any " Roorbacks " that may be hatched in 
the hot-bed of political zeal, to vote for any other man for Pres- 
ident than Col. Fremont, inasmuch as I see no other way of put- 
ting an end to the terrible aggressions of the Slave Power. 

/ believe upon the election or defeat of Col. Fremont ivill depend the 
questions, whether or not the black coliomn of Slavery will be pushed to 
the Pacific Ocean ; whether or not the Afeican-slave-tkade, the sum 
of all wickedness, will be revived ; and whether or not practical Sla- 
very shall he forced into the Free States under decisions of Federal 
Judges, appointed as Mr. Fillmore sojtght to appoint and did appoint 
some of his Judges ; and, in short, whether this country shall have a 
Constitutional Government for the Slave Oligarchy ; whether or not 
we shall recover our lost national honor, and go on in peaceful progress 
to the climax of human greatness ; or wfiether we s/iall be destroyed 
by t/ie aggressive system of the Slave Power. 

Very truly yours, CHAUNCEY SHAFFER. 



Issued by the YOUNG MEN'S FREMONT & DAYTON CENTRAL UNION, of Iho City of N. Y. 
Campaign Reading Room, Stuyvesant Institute, 659 Broadway; open daily from 8 A.M. tollP.M 



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